Food container



Feb. 20, 1968 J. F. WEISS FOOD CONTAINER Filed D60. 21, 1964 Z hi.

J HEW United States Patent 3,369,369 FOOD CONTAINER Joseph F. Weiss, Lakeland, Minn. (Rte. 5, Stillwater, Minn. 55082) Filed Dec. 21, 1964, Ser. N0. 419,817 6 Claims. (Cl. 624) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A can or like container which has a sealed off heatconductive chamber therein. The chamber contains per se known chemicals which when mixed produced or absorb heat thereby changing the temperature of the contents of the container. One of the chemicals is enclosed in a sealed frangible generally spherical capsule that is loosely fitted in the chamber between a flexible cap end and indentations in the wall of the chamber. Thumb pressure on the cap will fracture the capsule allowing admixture of the chemicals.

This invention relates to self-heating or self-cooling containers for foodstuffs, beverages or the like.

In particular, it relates to cans containing liquids which are normally or preferably consumed at a temperature within the 3545 F. range and which may be cooled from ambient temperature to said range by means of a self-contained refrigerating unit.

Others have addressed themselves to the problem of heating and cooling of foodstuffs, beverages, etc., see for example, US. Patents 2,425,900, 2,373,611 and 2,579,405.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a self-cooling or heating container which is relatively simple to manufacture, which does not require a change in the present dimensions of commonly used commercial beverage cans and which is capable of being subjected to the stresses and forces encountered in normal production, packaging, shipping and storing of such containers without premature reaction or mixture of the materials which endothermically or exothermically combine or mix to heat or cool the contents of the container.

Although perhaps less commonly thought of than exothermic reactants, various compounds which combine or mix and absorb heat upon admixture are well known in the art, e.g. the freezing mixtures disclosed in US. Patents 2,907,173 and 3,095,291, or see page 1191 of Langes Handbook of Chemistry, th edition, 1961.

Other objects of the invention will appear from the accompanying drawings and the detailed description therewith.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical medial section through a presently preferred form of the invention in which an energytransfer unit has been formed as an integral portion of the container for a fluid;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical medial section of the energy transfer unit and one end of a container prior to the permanent mechanical joining of one to the other;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical medial section through a part of the unit and container showing a stage in the manufacture and mechanical joinder of the two; and

FIGURE 4 is a vertical medial section through the unit and part of the contaner illustrating a later stage in the joinder of the two than that shown in FIGURE 3, and also illustrates an alternate step in the fabrication of the container.

Referring now to the drawings (in which like parts have like numbers), FIGURE 1 illustrates a container 10 having a cylindrical sidewall 12 and metal bottom end 14 and top end 16. The container or can may be of any convention manufacture and the joinder of the ends to the 3,369,369 Patented Feb. 20, 1968 cylinder in the drawings is merely illustrative. Firmly aflixed in one end of the can is heat energy transfer unit 18 for raising or lowering the temperature of the surrounding media. In its presently preferred form this unit comprises a tubular sealed unit having a cylindrical sidewall 28 divided by three indentations 24 disposed equidistantly and in a horizontal plane in the sidewall thereof which divide the tube into what may be termed a lower section 20, for retaining one of the miscible components, and an upper section 22 for retaining I3. frangible capsule 26 which encloses the other component (it being understood that as used in this specification the components may be either those ingredients which chemically react to cause a heating or cooling effect, or those which upon admixtureprovide a heating or cooling effect).

The uppermost end of the unit is closed by a flexible cap 30 which has a. medial inferiorly deposed convex portion 32, the opposite side of which has a concave conformation sulbstantially similar to the portion of the capsule 26 which it is facing.

In preferred form the uppermost portion of the cap 30 lies below the plane formed :by the rim 34 of the top end 16. Moreover when the frangible capsule 26 is formed of glass of the strength and thickness commonly found in ornaments for decorating Christmas trees, and filled with a liquid such as water, the filled container as shown in FIGURE 1 can withstand a surprising amount of bumping and jarring without premature rupture of the capsule.

In this instance the size of the capsule is selected so that there is about $4 inch clearance between the face of the convex portion 32 and the capsule, which apparently aids in preventing premature rupture of the capsule from minor external forces applied to the cap 30 while at the same time avoiding capsule rupture due to impact against the inside confines of the upper portion 22 of the unit.

By providing a plurality of indentations 24 I have found that depressing the cap 32 with the thumb will exert sufficient forces on a glass capsule to fragment it in such fashion that the liquid contained therein completely and rapidly falls into the lower section of the unit. This is opposed to the case in which the indentation is in the form of a continuous ring-like restriction, for in this latter instance fracture of the capsule surprisingly is more difficult, e.g. the top portion of the capsule only may fracture, and draining of the liquid therefrom is slow or may even be essentially impossible, eg. it may require repeated inversions of the container to attempt to empty the capsule.

By filling the capsule 36 with water as one component and used granules 42 of anhydrous ammonium nitrate or potassium nitrate as the other component in the lower section of an aluminum tube I have effected a substantial reduction in the temperature of the liquid contents 44 of the container.

Referring now to FIGURES 2, 3 and 4 which illustrate steps in the manufacture of the complete container shown in FIGURE 1, the top end 16 of the container is provided with a round opening defined by the upturned edge 36, and of such size as to snugly accommodate the un-capped open-ended terminal portion 38 of the upper section of the energy transfer unit. The unit is inserted from the underside of the container through the opening in the top 16 until a peripheral annular ridge 40 in the upper portion 22 engages the under surface of the top end 16.

FIGURE 3 shows the ends of the top edge 36 and terforming a tight seal, and the cap closes and seals the end of the energy transfer unit. (For purposes of illustration a space is shown below the external undersurfiace of the edge of the cap 30 and the top 16, but in practice the two surfaces may firmly abut one another.) Furthermore, if desired, a head of solder or other inert non-toxic sealant may be used to further insure against leakage either from the main container to the outside or between main container and the inside of the transfer unit.

FIGURE 4 further illustrates that the energy transfer unit 18 may be joined to the end cap 16 as a handleable entity and this subassembly then afiixed to the sidewalls of the cylinder by conventional means.

It is of course preferred to select the components for the heating or cooling mixture for their non-toxicity, and to further protect the consumer against any inadvertent commingling of the contents of the two containers one may place a vivid colorant in the transfer unit and/ or include therein a noxious tasting but harmless material so as to provide a gustatory warning.

The frangible capsule may be made of materials other than glass, eg. brittle plastic material, etc., and the sidewalls of the transfer unit may be made of any good heat conductor such as copper, glass, aluminum, etc. Further more, while the lower section 20 is here illustnated as being smooth and round, it may be corrugated, finned or its surface area otherwise modified to enhance heat transfer, and may be square or have any number of configurations other than round.

I claim:

1. A hermetically sealed container enclosing consumable goods, said container comprising at least one sidewall .and a top and bottom end portion joined thereto, one of said top and bottom portions having firmly fixed therethrough an energy transfer unit comprising a generally spherical frangible capsule, a generally tubular-shaped sidewall having an upper section consisting of a partially externally projecting flexible capped upper end and which continues and extends inside said container for a distance, a plurality of individual indentations disposed in said. sidewall in a horizontal plane, spaced from said capped upper end to loosely support the said frangible capsule between said end and the indentations, and a continuing lower section having a closed end, said horizontal plane defining the juncture between said upper section and said lower closed section; said capsule and said lower section containing respectively components which upon application of axial pressure to said flexible capped upper end fnactures the capsule and admixes the nespective chemical components of the capsule and the lower section to produce a temperature change whereby the temperature of consumable goods enclosed in said container is altered.

2. A container according to claim 1 in which said cap sule is made of glass and contains a liquid.

3. A container according to claim 1 in which said capped upper portion is closed with a flexible cap having a medial inferiorly deposed convex portion, the opposite side of which has a concave conformation substantially similar to the portion of said capsule which it is facing and spaced about inch from said capsule.

4. A container according to claim 3 in which said capsule is made of glass and contains a liquid, and in which said indentations consist of three approximately equidistantly spaced projections into the interior of said trans-- fer unit.

5. A container according to claim 4 in which the uppermost portion of said flexible cap lies below the plane formed by the rim of the end portion through which it is at-fixed to said container.

6. A hermetically sealed container according to claim 1, said container enclosing a consumable liquid [and comprising a cylindrical sidewall and top and bottom end portions joined thereto, one of said end portions having finmly fixed therethrough an energy transfer unit for effecting a cooling of said liquid, said unit consisting of a spherical frangible capsule, an effective heat-conducting sidewall having an upper section consisting of an externally projecting flexible capped upper portion and extending inside said container for a distance sufficient to house said frangible capsule between said capped end and about three individual indentations disposed substantially equidistantly in a horizontal plane which defines the juncture between said upper section and a closed-end lower section continuous therewith; and said frangible capsule being of a size such that moderate thumb pressure axially on said cap causes rupture of said capsule, said capsule containing a liquid component and said lower section containing gnanules of a complementary component for forming a freezing mixture, said components being present in an amount sufficient to cause substantial lowering of the temperature of the said consumable liquid upon admixture of said components.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,746,265 5/1956 Mills 62-294 3,003,324 10/1961 Vance etal 624 FOREIGN PATENTS 438,834 12/1948 Italy.

NORMAN YUDKOFF, Primary Examiner.

G. P. HINES, Assistant Examiner, 

